• The EATS Act was introduced by Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) and Kansas Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS). It’s designed to prohibit state and local governments from making agricultural policies within their own borders.  

 

• Its goal is to nullify California Proposition 12, an animal welfare ballot initiative that passed with 63% of California voters in 2018 and was upheld by SCOTUS in 2023. Prop 12 prohibits the sale in California of meat, dairy and eggs from sows confined in gestation crates (including their litters), calves in veal crates, and chickens in battery cages.

 

• The EATS Act would negate any state law governing livestock or pesticides that was more stringent than the weakest state law in the nation. The bill would strip states’ ability to make laws that protect public health, animal health and welfare, farmers, and the environment. It would be a race to the bottom for animal welfare, food safety, and national food sovereignty.

 

• Prop 12 provides a market opportunity for small-scale, traditional farmers to sell their humanely-raised pork in the large California market. The EATS Act, however, accelerates market concentration and further enshrines industrial factory farming.

 

• Foreign multinational mega corporations Smithfield and JBS are major supporters of the EATS Act along with the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau.

 

• Contrary to industry talking points, Iowa hog farmers don’t need the EATS Act. From a July 14 Cedar Rapids Gazette article: “[O]ver the past year, there's been enough production change to meet Prop 12 demand that it really truly doesn't affect a producer that doesn't want to adjust operations to comply with the California law.” –Matt Gent, President, Iowa Pork Producers Council

 

Learn more about how you can take action here.

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Download this fact sheet here. 

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